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Microsoft Office 12 Beta 1 Is Out

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the spellchecker-doesn't-recognize-blogs dept.

lastberserker writes "The first official beta of the next MS Office is out. PC Magazine already has review with screenshots. Check these blogs for more details on new UI, new file format, and the killer app; plus much more in your friendly neighborhood Wikipedia." From the PC Mag review: "Instead of the cluttered, hard-to-navigate interface that sprouted up haphazardly over the past 20 years, Office 12 introduces a new interface based on tabs that organize sets of functions under headings such as 'Write,' 'Page Layout,' and 'Review,' plus a combination toolbar-and-menu called the ribbon, which displays a different set of icons and menu items depending on the tab selected, and displays different sets of icons depending on whether you're working with text, graphics, tables, or other kinds of data."

6 of 416 comments (clear)

  1. The Worst Office "Feature" Remains by doctorcisco · · Score: 5, Insightful

    FTFA: "Word and Excel still perform automated changes that you may not want or expect, and you still have to learn their sometimes-obscure inner logic before you can master them." It still thinks it can create my document better than I can. No thanks. doc

    1. Re:The Worst Office "Feature" Remains by TedCheshireAcad · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The killer feature of Office would be a contextual menu item "no seriously, don't fucking autoformat this."

    2. Re:The Worst Office "Feature" Remains by Otter · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Y'know, you can turn that stuff off! It requires a bit of poking around, but if you're capable of tweaking the modelines in XF86Config, you're probably able to find the settings to turn off automatic bulletting.

      --
      What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
    3. Re:The Worst Office "Feature" Remains by NCraig · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If it takes you ten minutes to click on "Tools" follwed by "AutoCorrect Options" then you need to turn your mouse sensitivity up.

      WAY up.

      Or you could just stop exaggerating...

  2. Lesson to openOffice people... by pubjames · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let this be a lesson to the openOffice people. Many people, including myself, have said time and again that openOffice should not be copying Microsoft Office, but instead try to be original and just be a great office suite. By copying MS Office, you are just letting Microsoft define the rules of the game, and you'll always be playing catch-up.

    Now office 12 is out, and they've completely redesigned the interface. openOffice have three options:

    1) Keep their current interface, and risk looking very outdated in a few years.
    2) Put masses of effort and wasted time into copying the new interface, and let MS keep defining the rules of the game.
    3) Start to be original and concentrate on making a great and original product.

    All the above applies to file formats as well. So much of the effort but into being compatible with MS's horrible formats could have been better spent elsewhere.

    Firefox did not become a great browser by copying IE, it did so by being a well designed product and adding original, easy-to-use features.

  3. This is suicide... by network23 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    First - I love Microsoft Office. I have been a Microsoft Office lover since Excel was released on Mac. I also love Open Source, but still prefer my Microsoft Office 2004 for MacOS X.

    Secondly - Office 12 is suicide. Ordinary users hate GUI changes. It doesn't matter if the new GUI is good or not. There are probably tens of thousands of users here on Slashdot that agree on the problem of persuading people to make even a small jump from Windows 2000 to XP - or even worse the impossible switch to Linux or Mac.

    Microsoft fumbling with Vista and Office 12 is to become the worst business miscalculation ever made, and our grandchildren will read about it in Economics 101.